A trip to the country

I live in the city. I’m pretty happy here in my concrete jungle surrounded by towering buildings, master plan housing developments, and jammed freeways. But every now and then it’s nice to leave it all behind and go exploring. My mother-in-law lives a couple of hours northwest of Dallas down a dusty farm to market road, in the middle of nowhere. On a recent visit, I brought along my camera.

Cactus in bloom.

Grasshoppers – a real problem for local farmers; cooperative subject matter for me.

I’ll be honest, the Black Widow spiders creeped me out, but not enough to keep me from trying to get just the right shot.

13 thoughts on “A trip to the country”

I have returned to this post with renewed interest, given the discussion on the Redback spider mailbox in Australia! Gosh, the two species of spiders do look so similar, don’t they? How incredible, given how far apart the US and Australia are and how long ago there was any connection in the landmasses.

See, now, there’s the difference between us. I’d have stayed the hell away from the spider. But then, I’m allergic to even non-venomous spider bites, so I don’t play near the venomous ones. Other than those shots creeping me out, those were excellent. 🙂

My mother-in-law’s barn is infested with Black Widows. I’ve never seen so many – and some of them were huge. Definitely not a place for someone with an allergy – or a phobia. I’m generally not bothered by spiders, but after realizing just how many there were, I got my shots and left. I only realized after I was home that the spider was getting ready to feast on her mate. Ewww.

See, it’s not a phobia, I just wish them all dead. I think that’s a neurosis, really. 🙂 I don’t really care that they’re important to the ecosystem. And your right, that eating the mate thing… no thanks.